Toy or miniature railway



C. T. FERGUSSON ET AL Feb 5, 1924.

TOY OR MINIATURE RAILWAY Filed June 6, 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet l Aid 4| llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilllllllllllll lIlllllllllllllllllllI V V T waw Feb. 5, 1924.;

C. T. FERGUSSON ET AL TOY OR MINIATURE RAILWAY I Feb. 5, 1924 C. T. FERGUSSON ET AL TOY 0R MINIATURE RAILWAY 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed June 6, 1922 Wi /a Patented Feb. .5, 11924.

entree stares CONSTANCE'T. FERGUSSON AND ALAN R. FERGUSSON, 01E BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

TOY R MINIATURE RAILWAY.

Application filed June 6,

Z '0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CoNs'rANoE T. FER- GUSSON, 3.11(l ALAN R. FERGUSSON, citizens of the United States. residing at Bufialo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Toy or Miniature Railways, of

which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to toy or miniature railways, an object thereof being to provide an improved toy structure of this character which will be more efficient, serviceable and durable in use and wherein the various parts will be so constructed as to provide relatively great strength and stability in use together with the advantages .of relative cheapness of manufacture.

A. further object of this invention is to provide a toy railway structure having a continuous support or platform for the several rails or tracks which may be readily formed to resemble an actual road bed, and which at the same time provides a firm and stable supporting platform or foundation for the tracks and a ready and edective means for securing or locating the tracks or rails in position.

A further object of the present improvement is to provide a toy railway structure having a continuous sectional support with rails located in position thereon and adapted to permit the several sections of the structure to be releasably joined together firmly without uneven or wobbly joints, the construction of the parts being such that the rails maybe readily banked at the curves while at the same time avoiding shaky and uncertain connections, particularly where a straight section is joined to a curved banked section.

A further object ofthis invention is to provide a toy railway structure having a sectional platform support of non-conducting or other suitable material upon which the several rails or tracks may be directly mounted and suitably held'in position.

A further object of this invention is to provide a toy structure having a support and a rail so mounted thereon as to be a justable relative to the support thereof.

Other objects of this invention will appear in the following description thereof, reference being had to the accom' anying drawings forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters indicate 1922. Serial Ito. 566,375.

corresponding parts inthe several views and wherein Fig. 1 is a plan view illustrating adjacent parts of certain sections of my improved toy railway structure; Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof; Fig. 3 is a plan view on a somewhat smaller scale'illustrating adjacent ends of sections of the structure; Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the structure shown in Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is adetail sectional view illustrating the manner in which a curved track may be banked; Fig. 6 is a plan view of another form of our invention; Fig. 7 is a cross section thereof: Figs. 7- and? are detail views illustrating ways for releasably joining the adjacent ends of certain rails; Fig. 8 is a side view illustrating the manner in which sections may be elevated to form the spans of a trestle; Fig. 9 is an end view thereof partly in cross section; Figs. 10, 11, and 19. are detail sectional views showing ways of mounting the rails upon a platform; Fig. 13 is a detail plan view of another form of track section; Fig. 1 1 is a cross section thereof; Figs. 15' and 16 are detail views illustrating the manner in which a tubular rail may be mounted on the support; Fig. 17 is a detail cross section showing the manner in which the rails in Figs. 13 and 14: may be secured; and Figs. 18 and 19 are I detail views illustrating another form of construction of the ends of tubular rails.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, 7, 7 and 11, it will be seen that the present improved toy railway structure may comprise a continuous support or platform 5 divided into a plurality of sections adapted to be placed together to form a continuous structure. This foundation or support in this instance is preferably formedof some non-conducting material, such for instance as fiber or other composition board, and by virtue of its continuous surface is readily adapted to be printed or otherwise provided with a design, thus causing the same to resemble an actual road bed with cross ties and crushed stone ballast. Mounted upon the several sections 6, 7, 8, 9, etc., of this support are rails 10, and as illustrated in the present instance, where the toy device is electrically actuated, a third rail 11 is provided.

The rails 10 and 11 in this instance are preferably solid and may be formed for instance from wire of suitable diameter or any other suitable material. The several rails are preferably mounted directly upon the support and may be secured to the support ad acent to the opposite ends only of the sections, and as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 11 may be spot-welded to the upper ends of rivets 12 projecting through the platform. The adjacent ends of the several rails are adapted to be releasably joined together by placing the platform sections end to end and as illustrated in Fig. 7 the end 13 of one solid rail being'turned down so asto permit its insertion into the bored end 14: of the adjacent rail, thereby forming an efficient joint. If desired however as shown in Fig. 7", a sleeve 17 may be swaged onto the reduced end 13 and adapted to receive the reduced'end 1330f the ad acent rail.

in the present improvement the curved track section 8 may be readily and effective- 1y banked without in any way interfering with the evenness of the platform or road bed "when placed upon the floor or ground and without causing any shaky joints where a curved section 8 is oined to a straight section 7. This is accomplished'as shown in Figs. 3 and l by banking the outer rail 10K only of the curved track section 8 and due to the resiliency of the rail and thefact that the same is connected at 12 to the support ways he flat on the floor at al times. This adjacent to the ends-only, the center of the curve alone may be raised relatively to the ends and the support thereby banking it sufficiently without in anyway alterin the relative position of the ends of the rai s or changing the height or-thickness of the supporting platform. As shown in Fig. 5 the rail 10 may be tapped to receive a screw 17 and between the rail and the support 8 a nut 18 maybe located, which can be adjusted to elevate or bend the rail between its ends so as to vary the height of the track at point of banking. As a result of this structure it will be seen that the outside rail of-the track section does not have to be'banked for the full length of the section as heretofore, and hence when the curved section 8 is joined to a straight section 7, the adjacent ends of the rail will lie at the same height above the support and hence the su port will althe connections or joints will be even and the several sections of the supportin plat form will alwaysremain firm and sta- 1e.

In ,Fi 10 the cylindrical or .wire formed solid rai 10 is secured to thplatform 6 by means of a rivet 20 passin through the lat-' 12 the rail 10' may be detachably secured to the platform form and the rail.- In "ig.

Gby means of a screw 21 if des1red,-the rall being tapped to receive the screw.

Referr1ng to'Figs. 15, 16, 18, and 19, it will be seen that cylindrical rails of tubular form may be em-p oyed,-andin this. case if desired, the several rails may also be de tachably mounted upon a platform 9. The rail 22 1a this mstance is provided'with a alacca pair of vertically alined holes, the upper hole 23 being larger so as to permit the head of the bolt 24 to pass therethrough and engage the sides of the lower hole 19, the shank only of the bolt extending or projecting throu h the lower hole and the platform and detac abl held in position by means of I down so as to form a suitable reduced portion 28 adapted to be'joined to the end of the next adjaceht rail.

Referring to Figs. 6 and 7, it will be seen that the rail 29 may in this instance be formed or bent up from sheet metal and is adapted to be secured in positonto the usual spaced supporting cross pieces 30 which are stamped up from sheetmetal. A suitable sectional platform or support 31 is provided which may be of composition board or any other suitable material and is printed, stencilled or otherwise designed to resemble a road bed. This platform 31 in this instance may be of any desired thickness and the rails 29 are mounted thereon, the platform being mounted upon the cross ieces 30. From the cross pieces 30 are struc up prongs or pro- 'jections 32 which extend through the platform or support 31 and are bent or clinched over the flanges 33 of the several rails 29.

The electrical third rail of course is suitably insulated from the cross pieces 30 as.

shown at 34.

It will be noted that by virtue of the fact that the present toy railway is provided with a continuous platform or support, the sev eral sections lend themselves very readily to the .buildin of trestles, and, the sectional platforms, orming the continuous road bed of'the entirestructure, are adapted to form the supporting spans between the piers of the trestle. Thus any portion of the entire structure may be elevated to form a-trestle, and in the resent instance detachable piers are provided which may be readily placed in position underneath the sectional platforms and which may also be readily detached.

Referrin to Figs. 8 and 9 it will be seen that the adjacent sections 7, 8 and 9 are elevated by means of-supportiug members 35 of suitable material preferably printed orotherwise desi ed to resemble piers. Each pier 35 is s tioned at the juncture point of a" pair 0 track sections and b means of right angled'brackets 36, bolts 3 and nuts 38, the piers 35 will be detachably secured in position underneath the several track sections. From this structure it will thus be Seen that we have provided very ready and efficient means for detachably elevating any of the track sections to form a trestle,

. Referring to Figs. '13, 14, and 17 the continuous support or platform sections may be formed from sheet material if desired and in this instance it will be seen that the platform section 40 may be formed from sheet metal and the ties 41 may be stamped up therefrom, the section being printed or otherwise provided with a design so as to resemble a road bed. Prongs 42 are struck up from the ties 41 of the platform and the ends thereof may be forced or bent to project intov grooves 43 in the opposite sides of the rails 44. Of course it will be understood that the electrical third rail is insulated from the support in any suitable manner.

It is to be understood that by describing in detail herein any particular form, structure, or arrangement, it is not intended to limit the invention beyond the terms of the several claims or the requirements of the prior art.

We claim as our invention: a

1. In a toy railway, the combination of a pair ofknockdown continuous platform supports, a wire rail connected to each support, and means for releasably holding said rails end to end.

2. In a toy railway, the combination of a continuous non-conducting support, and a wire-formed. rail secured thereto.

3. In a toy railway, the combination of a continuous non-metallic support, and a wire-formed rail secured thereto.

4. In a toy railway, the combination of a continuous composition board support, and a wire-formed rail secured thereto.

5. In a toy railway, the combination of a pair of knockdown continuous composition board supports, a wire-formed rail connected to each support, and means forreleasably holding said rail and supports end to end.

6. In a toy railway, the combination of a non-conducting fibre board platform, a pair of rails extending thereover, and means for securing said rails to the platform.

7. In a toy railway, the combination of a non-conducting fibre board platform,ra pair of rails ext-ending thereover, means for securing the ends of said rails to the platform, and means for bending a rail intermediate its ends to bank the same.

8. In a toy railway, the combination of a continuous non-conducting platform support, rails extendin thereover, means for rigidly connectin t eends of the rails to the platform,an means for banking the rail intermediate said connected ends.

9. In a toy railway, the combination of a plurality of composition board sections held end to end, rails extending there ver, and means extending into the sect bus and Welded to said rails for connecting the rails and sections together.

10. In a sectional toy railway, the com-.

cally formed rails carried by each board section, and means for securing a rail to a board section adjacent to the ends of the rail, whereby the intermediate portion of the rail may be flexed relatively to the ends thereof- V 12. In a sectional toy railway, the combination of a plurality of composition board sections adapted to be detachably held in position'end to end, a plurality of rails carried by each board section, means for securing a rail to a board section adjacent to the ends of the rail, whereby the intermediate portion of the rail may be flexed relatively to the ends thereof, and means for flexing said intermediate portion.

13. In a toy railway, the combination of a plurality of composition board sections adapted to be detachably held end to end to form a continuous readily portable and knockdown platform, a plurality of rails mounted on each section, means extending into the composition board for securing the rails in position, and means for releasably joining the juxtaposed ends of said rails and sections.

14. In a toy railway, the combination of a plurality of composition board sections adapted to be detachably held end to end to form a continuous readily ortable and lmoclrdown platform, a plura ity of wireformed rails mounted on each section, means extending into the composition board for securing the rails in position, and means for releasably joining the juxtaposed ends of said rails and sections.

15. A. toy track comprising a composition boa-rd sectional supporting platform, cylindrical solid rails located on said platform, attaching means projecting through said platform and engaging said rails, the latter being welded to said means.

16. A. toy track comprising a continuous sectional platform, a plurality of cylindrical rails carried thereby, attaching devices carried by said platform to which the tracks are secured in position, the rails of one section having reduced ends extending into bored ends of corresponding rails of an adjacent section.

ill

Mill

Elli) 17 i In a toy railway, the combination of a fibre board support forming knockdown sections, and rails connected to said sections.

18. In a toy railway, the combination of a series of composition board knockdown sections adapted to; form a continuous support, a plurality of rails, mounted on each I plurality of rails including a power rail secured to each fibre board.

21. In a toy railway, the combination ofa series of knockdown fibre or composition boards constructed to simulate a railway bed when located in position end to end, and a wire-formed rail carried by a section.

22. In a toy railway, the combination of a portable fibre or composition board toy railway section', and a rail connected to :said board to permit the intermediate portion of the' rail to be flexed upwardly from (the i board.

23. In a toy railway, the combination of a portable fibre or composition board toy railway section, and a wire-formed rail connected to said board to permit the intermediate portion the rail to be flexed upwardly from the board.

24. In a toy railway, the combination of a pair of knockdown platform sections held end to end; rails carried by each section, and

engaging said sections at the juncture thereof, and means for detachably connecting said member and sections.

26. In a toy railway, the combination of knockdown platform sections held end to end, rails carried by each section, a pier member for elevating said sections, and means comprising a pair of right angled brackets for connecting said member and sections.

27. In a toy railway, the combinationof' a pair of knockdown continuous platform supports, and a wire-formed power rail connected to each support. v y

28. In a toy railway, the combination of a pair of knockdown continuous platform sections held end to end, a pier member for elevating said sections to form a trestle, and

means for detachably'connecting said pier 1 member to a section.

Signed at Bufialo, N. Y., this 26 day of May 1922.

CONSTANGE T. FERGUSSON. ALAN .R. FERGUSSON. 

